Cutting the High Cost of End-of-life Care

Posted on 12/13/2012

CNNMoney: You’ve gotten the phone call no one wants to receive: A close family member has been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, or one battling a terminal condition has begun to fail. And so begins a medical saga that could last weeks, months, or years, during which you will face some of the most difficult choices you’ll ever make.

Should your 82-year-old dad, who has been declining after a stroke, get hip surgery after a fall? Would your 43-year-old sister, fighting late-stage cancer, benefit from an experimental drug that could have serious side effects?

These are wrenching decisions. And while no one wants to think about money at such times, they are also expensive ones — for families and for the country.